Ben's Birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and I realised that I haven't shared many Birthday's on the blog so far. I love planning a party, love love love it so when Ben turned 30 I threw him a British summer kind of garden party for family and friends in my parent's garden. So while I had ideas for deck chairs on the grass, a kind of picnic festival afternoon being an August baby, it nearly always rains! So we moved the deck-chairs indoors but still had a lovely time filled with bunting, pimms and lots of cake.

My Parent's live in a beautiful barn conversion up the road from us, perfect for hosting summer parties so they agreed to let us ! We set a marquee up so the rain didn't stop play.

{Flower prep} Being a boy's party I didn't want it to look overly girly but couldn't have a summer party without flowers. Luckily Ben loves vintage things especially things that are a bit retro like these milk bottles I got from eBay so filled them with sweet peas.

And it was back when paper-pom poms had just begun, my Mum and I spent an afternoon fluffing them all up to hang from the marquee.

Along with bunting, of course!

We both have huge sweet tooths so I made a dessert table baking a big carrot cake {Ben's favourite} for the main, chocolate cupcakes with personalised flag labels from Etsy, old fashioned sweets in jars, a trifle, berries, meringues and a cheesecake!

Drinks wise, there were English cordials along with Pimms, a summery must have.

And stripy paper straws!

I wanted to display old photos so made a DIY chicken wire frame to peg them on to inside and we set up picnic rugs and deck chairs in the lounge for everyone to camp out. Everybody ate {salads, pizza oven roast chickens, sausages and quiches}, talked and laughed. I haven't posted any photos of our friends and family as I'm never sure if they actually want to be on this blog or not, especially our grandparents who don't really understand the blogging world!But a good time was had by all! Especially the Birthday Boy.

Light the candles and shout hip, hip hooray! Then promptly tuck in.

We got engaged about a week after this party! My Grandma actually thought Ben would propose during the party but I'm so glad he didn't. It was perfect just as it was. {although you can read about the actual proposal, in Cornwall for Ben's birthday present here}

{couldn't resist a photo of the pup, his hair looks so long then. He doesn't like crowds so was grumpy!}

Needless to say that celebrations won't always be as big, or need as much pom pom fluffing! This year we're going out for dinner in London and I'm trying to plan a day out before hand somewhere nice. I do love a birthday.

About me

I'm Rebecca - a complete photo addict and blogger with a passion for interior design, flowers, travel, food, weddings and life with my husband, Ben. I'm based in Hertfordshire splitting life between the rolling countryside and London.

This blog will occasionally contain affiliate links. So if you click on a link and make a purchase from an affiliate site, then I may make a commission from that purchase but this will not cost you anything extra at all. Any sponsored posts will be noted as such but as always I only include products that I truly love and will always be 100% honest.